Clearing up storage space on your mobile phone

September 12, 2017

Don’t miss an important photo because you ran out out storage space on your overstuffed device.

It’s not always easy to stay one step ahead of the vanishing storage space on your smartphone, and suddenly finding yourself without any available room can prevent you from snapping new pictures, syncing playlists and more. However, if you take time to maintain what you’re storing on your phone, you should be able to video and download until your digital heart’s content.

Whether you have an Android or an iPhone, here are some easy and quick ways to get some breathing room again.

iPhone Storage Space

Delete old messages

That long history of text messages you’ve been saving can take up a lot of space, especially if you like to send a lot of pictures, videos and GIFs. Don’t be a data hoarder, get rid of old conversations you’re never going to go back and look at ever again. Go to settings-> messages -> keep messages -> select 30 days

Don’t double-save photos

iPhone’s camera is great, and HDR mode helps give you pretty darn good photo quality even in low light. Problem is, your phone will save both an HDR version of the photo and a version without this feature. Go to settings -> photos & camera -> and un-tick the Keep Normal Photo option.

Clear your browser cache

If you use your web browser all the time, your iPhone may be storing web history and data that you simply do not need. You need to clear it off from time to time. Go to settings -> Safari (or Chrome or Firefox or whatever browser you use) and tap “Clear History and Website Data”.

Delete unused apps and games

You may or may not be surprised to know that apps can accrue their own set of data over time, turning a 45mb application into a 1.5GB monster that just eats away at your memory. If you’re not using an app all that much, just ditch it and re-download it later for free if you really, really need it. Hold down the app until it wobbles, then hit the X to delete.

Android Storage Space

Clear the cache

Many Android apps use stored — or cached — data to give you a better user experience. Cached data can save a little time (and mobile data), but the files stored in app caches are for convenience and are not strictly necessary. Go toSettings -> Storage -> Cached data, then tapOKin the confirmation window.

Clean up your Downloads folder

Just like on a PC or a Mac, your Android device has a Downloads folder, and it’s a favorite hideout for miscellaneous junk files downloaded from the Web or by your various Android apps. You should be able to free up some storage space by deleting these unnecessary files. Find the downloads folder — which might be called “My Files” — in the app drawer. Tap and hold a file to select it, then tap the trash can icon, the remove button or the delete button to get rid of it.

Take advantage of Google Photos

One of the best features of Google’s Photos app is its ability to back up your entire photo library to your online Google account. Once your photos are backed up, you can delete them from your device to free up space. You will need to turn on Google Photos’ Back up & sync feature to take advantage of all this free cloud storage space. To do this, open the Google Photos app and go to Settings >Back up & sync and turn it on.

Once you’ve backed up your photos using Google Photos, you can go to Settings > Free up device storage, and Google Photos will delete any photos and videos that have been backed up

Unload your least-used apps

If you’ve tried these tips and you still need more space, there’s no getting around it — you’re going to have to start deleting some things. You’ve probably got some (maybe several) apps on your device that you never use. To figure out which apps are taking up the most space, open Settings-> Storage–> Apps. You’ll see a list of apps sorted by size — the biggest apps will the at the top of the list. To delete an app you don’t use, tap the app and then tap the “i” icon next to the app’s name. Tap uninstallto get rid of the app.

Try using these methods to free up storage on your phone right now, so you’ll never miss an important moment again. If you need help with any of these steps, please feel free to visit your local Pioneer Retail Office today.